Visiting the Hopper Glacier from Karimabad sounded like a great little day trip but it proved to be rather challenging without a private car. We began with a hitchhike down to the main road with a lovely elderly couple that insisted if we come to Peshawar that we must stay with them. From the junction we went on foot to Ganish Village, said to be the oldest settlement in Hunza. It’s around 1000 years old and had some very cute stone and wooden houses with cows living in little enclosures beneath the homes but it only took about 15 minutes for us to explore the village.

The gravel road leading up the Hopper Valley was a quiet one, in fact we were starting to wonder if any cars would even drive past us. Normally in Pakistan we’ve been picked up within a matter of minutes and now we were waiting 15 minutes which in reality is no time at all but it made us realise how un-travelled this road was. Eventually a little Suzuki truck pulled over for us and took us halfway up the valley, from there a 4×4 with two Italians let us hop in. Along the way the driver pulled over to show us cannabis plants growing all the way along the roadside. It was crazy as they were everywhere!! Instead of normal hedge-rows they had cannabis plants. The driver also pointed out “this field is aloo” (potato’s) “you can have hashish and chippies!” he said while giggling which made us all laugh. We tried to give the Italian’s money as they’d hire the jeep so we wanted to contribute but they refused so once we arrived at the glacier viewpoint we bought them some drinks.

The glacier was a little anticlimactic. It was nice, but it wasn’t as impressive as the one we saw at Nanga Parbat. We did plan on walking on this glacier a little as I read it was possible but looking at it from above it didn’t seem worth it or particularly safe. The glacier was grey and the route down was pretty steep so it would take us quite a while to get down and back up and we had to be conscious about getting a ride back along the quiet road.

So we waited by some cannabis plants for about 45 minutes for a ride, a lady we’d met the day before actually drove past and said if we were still waiting when she leaves she’d take us back to Karimabad. But eventually another little Suzuki truck pulled over, it was some men selling rugs and they asked for 3000 rupees which we agreed on. It was a funny experience, I sat in the back, laying on a pile of rugs while Craig was standing on the rear bumper with two other men, hanging off the outside. After just 2 kilometres they stopped and said they needed to go back and pick someone up so we waited at the roadside and a man actually picked us up, he was only going 2km down the road. We tried hitchhiking in the meantime but almost no traffic came by and eventually the rug sellers rumbled down the road. This time there were more men onboard so I took the front seat with the driver and Craig was holding onto the back of the truck with the other men.

There was a young guy from Peshawar who was highly irritating. When he found out we were from England it was nonstop “get me a visa, take me to England!” “What’s your WhatsApp number, get me passport”. It was said with a smile but it was relentless. There was another guy who was from Afghanistan that started off very friendly and chatty but he too began the visa demands. “You are a rich man, you know people!” If only they knew even Craig got denied a USA visa, we are just normal people without power. At one point they asked Craig if he was Muslim and we’ve been told atheism is very hard for Pakistanis to understand so we just lie and say we’re Christian, in fact in Pakistan we are married Christian’s, it’s just easier that way. Anyway, then one guy said “who’s your god?” and Craig suddenly had a mindblank…who’s the Christian god, is the answer just god?! Geez. In the end he repeated “I’m a christian” and that seemed to work however one of the young guys started reciting chapters from the Quran to him in quite a serious manner, but soon after conversation went back to visa requests.

Meanwhile I was going through the small talk with the driver who didn’t seem to like the passengers he had on board. When the young guy poked his head through my window and asked for my WhatsApp the driver told him to stop asking. But eventually the driver also asked if I had Facebook or anything and I just lied and said I just read books, my phone is just for photos and phone calls. I took my hat off at one point and he said “oh, your hair, it so small!” Which made me laugh because local ladies all have long hair and bob’s are pretty rare.

The driver had to make another stop in the village to get a replacement tyre. Someone bought a bottle of Mountain Dew and biscuits and shared them around with everyone which was a nice touch but then they all finished and threw the rubbish directly on the floor. When we reached a bridge they all got out and asked for yet more photos with us. As we got closer to our drop off point the driver said “give me money, not Peshawar man”. It was strange when we got out the car, the journey had taken over two hours, we’d chatted with them, shared food and drinks and instead of saying goodbye they ran to the driver to try and get a piece of the money we gave him. It was our only negative hitchhike ride in Pakistan though, and the only one that asked for money so maybe that’s a sign, the rest of the people were just excited to take some tourists and chat English.